Assad will attempt to arm Hezbollah to retaliate against Israeli air strikes on Syrian targets:
The head of Hezbollah has said he is ready to receive "game-changing" weapons from Syria, which has long been a conduit for Iranian weapons bound for the Lebanese armed group.
Hassan Nasrallah, in an address televised to an audience in Beirut on Thursday as a security precaution, said the shipments of new types of weapons would serve as the Syrian reaction to Israel's air strikes
I don't know if "reaction" is the right concept to describe Assad's action as much as "staying the course" is. After all, Hezbollah needs to be paid for sending fighters to help Assad and sending weapons is the currency that Hezbollah wants.
But the important thing is that Syria isn't interested in escalating and risking Israeli aerial intervention in the rebellion on the side of the rebels.
And really, Assad should probably hope that Israel keeps hitting those arms shipments. If enough get through, Israel has the option of invading Lebanese territory to crush Hezbollah. And Israel won't have to worry about Syrian intervention since Assad is kind of busy. Israel could push all the way to Baalbek and really do some damage.
UPDATE: This, on the other hand, is a reaction:
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) said it was preparing for new operations after nearly 40 years of quiet on the Israel-Syria border.
The group, designated terrorists by the United States and others in the West, was most active in the 1970s and 80s but retains influence with Palestinians in Syria and Lebanon.
"The leadership of the PFLP-GC announces that it will form brigades to work on liberating all violated (Israeli-occupied) territories, first and foremost the occupied Golan," it said in a statement late on Friday.
"The Popular Front's leaders have opened the door to all Syrian citizens to volunteer in the formation of the resistance."
Interesting. Does Assad think that this could draw Sunni recruits who otherwise would fight against his forces? Or, since the PFLP-GC is fighting alongside Assad's forces, does Assad think that giving the group an anti-Israel tint would help the group if tasked to secure for Assad the region bordering Israel?
Openly indicating that Syria and Hezbollah back the PFLP-GC puts those entities in the cross hairs if the terrorist group scores any success against Israel, doesn't it?
